$2 Million Bounty Put on Moammar Gaddafi’s Head, Dead or Alive

Deposed despot Moammar Khadafy is wanted dead or alive – with a $2 million bounty on his head. Even worse for the longtime Libyan leader, his captor – or killer – can collect the cash and a get-out-of-jail-free card from the rebels who forced Khadafy to flee his Tripoli compound.”The National Transitional Council announces that any of his inner circle who kill Khadafy or capture him, society will give amnesty or pardon for any crime,” said spokesman Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

The $2 million payoff was posted Wednesday by a group of Tripoli businessmen.

With even his foreign minister acknowledging Khadafy’s 42-year regime was finished, the focus turned to finding the fugitive ex-Libyan leader.

Khadafy’s whereabouts remained unknown a day after rebel forces seized control of the capital and his headquarters.

The insurgents were using his Bab al-Azizaya – “The Splendid Gate” – as a staging area for their Tripoli operations.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there was no evidence that Khadafy had bolted Libya, and there were rumors that he had returned to his coastal hometown of Sirte.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi acknowledged Wednesday that the six-month civil war was at its finish – and Khadafy was on the losing end.

“Yes, this is my feeling,” he told Britain’s Channel 4 News. “If I am in charge, I would tell them [Khadafy loyalists} to lay down their arms.”

Khadafy’s deputy of intelligence, Col. Khalifa Mohammed, later informed Al-Arabiya television that he had defected and joined the rebels.

Khadafy, 69, already had one offer of asylum. Nicaragua would welcome him if he decides to land in Central America, said a spokesman for President Daniel Ortega.

The end of Khadafy’s rule did produce the release of nearly three dozen journalists held captive for days in a once-luxurious Tripoli hotel.

Word of the reporters’ release came via the Twitter feed of CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance, who described his time in the Rixos Hotel as “six days of a complete nightmare.”

“Crisis ends,” he wrote after driving to freedom in a car packed with other reporters. “All journalists are out!”